Theft-proof credit card assembly

ABSTRACT

A theft-proof credit card assembly including separate front and back laminates. The laminates are temporarily held in registry while a coded symbol is simultaneously embossed on both. The front laminate is sent to a customer while the back laminate is mailed several days later. Upon receiving both laminates, they are permanently secured to form a useable credit card assembly.

United States Patent Rudolph 1451 Aug. 15, 1972 [541 THEFT-PROOF CREDITCARD 3,069,793 12/1962 Francescon ..40/2.2 ASSEMBLY 1,499,955 7/ 1924Stoddard ..283/7 X Inventor: Murray p Yellow Creesy Stone B d ForestHills, N Y' 3,230,650 1/1966 Ol'kln ..40/2.2 11375 3,379,130 4/1968Korfmann ..101/369 X 3,511,181 5/1970 McGriffen et a1, ..101/369 [22]F11ed: May 20, 1970 [2}] App] No; 38,938 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS827,255 2/1960 Great Britain ..101/369 [52] US. Cl. ..101/369,40/2.2,'101/401. 1, l

156/277, 156/388, 161/406, 161/413, 283/8 coughevour R Attorney-EdwardF. Levy [51] Int. Cl. ..B4l147/02, G09f 3/10 [58] Field 61 Search..101/369, 401.1, 395; 40/22; 1571 ABSTRACT 283/7 9; 156/277 384-388 Atheft-proof credit card assembly including separate 0 front and backlaminates. The laminates are tem- [56] kefmnces Clted porarily held inregistry while a coded symbol is simul- UNITED STATES PATENTS taneouslyembossed on both. The front laminate is sent to a customer whlle theback lamlnate 1s malled 3,3 l M31816! everal days later Upon receivinglaminates 3,414,998 12/ 1968 Berger ..40/2.2 are permanently Secured tof a useable credit card 2,558,877 7/1951 Ress 101/369 X assembly 23,511,655 5/1970 Haas et a1. ..40/2.2 X 3,315,601 4/1967 Borack..101/395 X 6 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures THEFT-PROOF CREDIT CARD ASSEMBLYBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This application relates to credit cards,and more particularly, to a theft-proof construction for such cards.

Credit cards are being increasingly used by a large segment of thepopulation. Unfortunately, such cards are often stolen during transitthrough the mails and used thereafter to the detriment of the cardholder and the credit company. Such theft has become quite widespreadand the losses incurred thereby amount to many millions of dollars ayear. The United States Congress has been looking into this problem andthat of un solicited cards being sent through the mails with a view toremedying many of the ills resulting therefrom.

Present credit cards are a unitary assembly, when mailed, with embossedidentifying symbols on the front of the card and space for a signatureon the front or back of the card. When such cards are stolen, the thiefmerely forges a signature and then uses the card with the forgedsignature. Since the thief will sign for all purchases with the forgedsignature, the theft is not easily detected. It may be several monthsbefore the true owner becomes aware of the theft and several more beforestores are notified of the invalid and illegal credit card use.

Some credit card companies have begun to incorporate a picture of thecredit card holder on the card itself to avoid the significant theftproblem. Such procedures are inconvenient to the holder, time consumingand expensive.

A problem relating to the illicit use of such cards is the difficulty inapprehending the unauthorized user. This results from the fact that whenthe card is stolen prior to being signed, the same signature is used bythe thief.

An object of the present invention is to provide a theft-proof creditcard.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a credit cardwhich is convenient to use and does not inconvenience the user when thecard is prepared.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a creditcard which costs approximately the same to manufacture as do presentcards.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a credit cardassembly which permits easy detection of its unauthorized use, thusaiding the apprehension of the thief.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide atheft-proof credit card which appears the same and is used in the samemanner as present cards.

Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention willbecome more apparent from the following description.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with the principles of thepresent invention, the above objects are accomplished by providing acredit card assembly comprising two separate layers or laminates whichare assembled by the credit card holder. Each layer or piece is embossedwith the same identifying code to aid the assembly process. In use, onelaminate is mailed to the user, while the other laminate is mailedseveral days later. If one laminate is stolen, it will not be capable ofbeing used without its matching laminate. If two non-matching laminatesare assembled, this will be obvious and the thief may be easilyapprehended.

IN THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a front view of the front laminate of a blankcharge card manufactured in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a rear view of theback laminate of a blank charge cardmanufactured in accordance with the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a rear view of the front laminate of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a front view of the back laminate of the present inventionillustrating a cover sheet partially stripped away.

FIG. 5 is a front view of the credit card front laminate after the samehas been embossed.

FIG. 6 is a rear view of the credit cardrear laminate after the same hasbeen embossed.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of the front laminate taken along lines 7--7of FIG. 1.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view of the back laminate taken along lines 88 ofFIG. 2.

FIG. 9 is a sectional view of the assembled credit card.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Generally, credit cards are distributed by banks orother credit institutions. The cards are first made in blank and laterembossed with specified identifying symbols. Such cards generally aremadeof a stiff plastic material. After being embossed, the cards aresent through the mails to the intended user. During this transit, thecards are often stolen, either at points of central distribution or atthe final destination.

In accordance with the principles of the present invention, a creditcard is made of two separate laminates l0 and 12 shown in FIGS. 1 and]2, respectively. The outer or front surface 14 of laminate as originallymade includes the name or identification of the credit card source, suchas MASTERCHARGE. In addition, any other material which is common to allcards distributed by a specified credit house is also printed on theouter surface 14. An outer surface 16 of the rear laminate 12 is alsoprovided with specified information common to such cards. In addition, ablankarea l8 suitable for permanently displaying a .signature isgenerally provided.

In accordance with a feature of the present invention, predeterminedaligned first and second regions or portions 20 and 22' of the outersurfaces'l4 and 16, respectively, are made more prominent than theremainder of the card by using a color such as red, and enclosing theportions 20 and 22 in borders 24 and 26, respectively. 7

After the blank laminates are made, a pressure sensitive adhesivematerial 28 is temporarily secured to the inner or rear surface 30 ofthe front laminate 10, as seen in FIG. 3. In addition, the inner orfront surface 32 of the back laminate 12 is coated with a slow dryingpermanent adhesive material 34 which covers substantially all of innersurface 32. A protectivelayer 36, such as a waxed paper, is sealed tothe inner surface 32 of the back laminate to cover the adhesive material34, as

bols include the name of the card holder 38 which may be in the lowerleft hand portion of the front laminate 10, the expiration date 40 ofthe card in the lower right hand portion, and the coded alphanumericsymbols 42 which are assigned to that specific card. A mirror image ofthe embossed symbols appears on the outer surface 16 of the backlaminate 12. A portion of the coded symbols are located within prominentregions 20 and 22, and these regions may be printed with a contrastingcoloring to bring out the embossments therein be printed with acontrasting coloring to bring out the embossments therein in boldrelief.

Subsequently, the two laminates are again separated, and the pressuresensitive material 28 is removed from the inner surface 30 of the frontlaminate. One laminate, for example the embossed front laminate of FIG.5, is mailed to the user, while the other embossed laminate 12 of FIG. 6is mailed several days later. If a thief wants to steal the credit card,he will succeed in only stealing one of the laminates. As can beappreciated, the probability of both laminates being successfully stolenis remote. I

When the two laminates are received, the protective layer or coating 36is peeled from the inner surface 32 in a manner illustrated in FIG. 4.The slow drying quality of adhesive material 34 prevents inaccurateregistration since the two laminates may be easily moved with respect toeach other while the card is being assembled. The matching embossedcharacters tend to serve as guides thereby insuring proper and accurateregistration. After a few hours the laminates will be per manentlysecured together and the credit card may be used.

When the card is presented, a cashier merely looks at the front and backof the card to determine if the symbol on the front matches the mirrorimage on the back. To aid such visual inspection, prominent regions and22 draw particular attention to a portion of the identifying code. lf athief were to steal two unmatched laminates, not only would thesesymbols fail to match, but there would be a significant gap between thetwo laminates because of the unmatched symbols. Anyone using twounmatched laminates would be quickly and easily detected.

It will thus be seen that the objects set forth above, among those madeapparent from the preceding description, are efficiently attained and,since certain changes may be made in the above article without departingfrom the scope of the invention, it is intended that all mattercontained in the above description and shown in the accompanying drawingshall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

What I claim is: l. A method for making a theft-proof credit cardcomprising at least the steps of formin a front laminate having innerand outer surfaces, ormmg a back laminate having inner and outersurfaces, placing a permanent adhesive material on said inner surface ofsaid back laminate and placing a protective sheet over said permanentadhesive material, placing a pressure sensitive adhesive on said innersurface of said front laminate and temporarily attaching saidbacklaminate to said inner surface of said'frontlaminate, embossingidentification indicia on said front and back laminates, and separating.said front and back laminates, and subsequently removing said protectivesheet and permanently attaching said front laminate to said backlaminate.

2. A method as set forth in claim 1, including the additional step ofpreparing a first prominent region on said outer surface of said frontlaminate and a second prominent region on said outer surface of saidback laminate with said first and second regions being in alignment,'andlocating at least a portion of said em-' bossed identification indiciain said prominent regions.

3. A theft proof credit card assembly comprising a front laminate havinginner and outer surface and a separate back laminate having inner andouter surfaces, the outer surface of said front laminate having printedindicia thereon and the outer surface of said rear laminate havingdifferent printed indicia thereon, identical identification indiciaembossed on both of said laminates in identical positions relative tothe edges thereof, adhesive means on the inner surface of one of saidlaminates for permanently joining together the two laminates into acompleted-credit card with the embossed indicia on said laminatesregistering with each other and exposed on the outer surfaces of bothjoined laminates, and second adhesive means, said second adhesive meansbeing pressure sensitive and being attached to said inner surface of theother of said laminates, said second adhesive means temporarilyconnecting said front and back laminates so that said laminates may besimultaneously embossed. I

4. A theft proof credit card assembly as set forth in claim 3, whereinthe adhesive means on said one laminate is covered by a protective sheetsealing said adhesive and preventing premature drying and settingthereof. I

5. A theft proof credit card assembly as set forth in claim 3, whereinsaid outer surface of said front laminate is provided with a firstprominent region and said outer surface of said back laminate isprovided with a second prominent region which is aligned with said firstprominent region.

6. A theft proof credit card as set forth in claim 3, wherein said frontand back laminates are made of a stiff-type plastic material.

1. A method for making a theft-proof credit card comprising at least thesteps of forming a front laminate having inner and outer surfaces,forming a back laminate having inner and outer surfaces, placing apermanent adhesive material on said inner surface of said back laminateand placing a protective sheet over said permanent adhesive material,placing a pressure sensitive adhesive on said inner surface of saidfront laminate and temporarily attaching said back laminate to saidinner surface of said front laminate, embossing identification indiciaon said front and back laminates, and separating said front and backlaminates, and subsequently removing said protective sheet andpermanently attaching said front laminate to said back laminate.
 2. Amethod as set forth in claim 1, including the additional step ofpreparing a first prominent region on said outer surface of said frontlaminate and a second prominent region on said outer surface of saidback laminate with said first and second regions being in alignment, andlocating at least a portion of said embossed identification indicia insaid prominent regions.
 3. A theft proof credit card assembly comprisinga front laminate having inner and outer surface and a separate backlaminate having inner and outer surfaces, the outer surface of saidfront laminate having printed indicia thereon and the outer surface ofsaid rear laminate having different priNted indicia thereon, identicalidentification indicia embossed on both of said laminates in identicalpositions relative to the edges thereof, adhesive means on the innersurface of one of said laminates for permanently joining together thetwo laminates into a completed credit card with the embossed indicia onsaid laminates registering with each other and exposed on the outersurfaces of both joined laminates, and second adhesive means, saidsecond adhesive means being pressure sensitive and being attached tosaid inner surface of the other of said laminates, said second adhesivemeans temporarily connecting said front and back laminates so that saidlaminates may be simultaneously embossed.
 4. A theft proof credit cardassembly as set forth in claim 3, wherein the adhesive means on said onelaminate is covered by a protective sheet sealing said adhesive andpreventing premature drying and setting thereof.
 5. A theft proof creditcard assembly as set forth in claim 3, wherein said outer surface ofsaid front laminate is provided with a first prominent region and saidouter surface of said back laminate is provided with a second prominentregion which is aligned with said first prominent region.
 6. A theftproof credit card as set forth in claim 3, wherein said front and backlaminates are made of a stiff-type plastic material.